Eric Friedland, Peregrine’s CEO, said the fact that the very first kimberlite discovered and sampled at Chidliak has a phase with a grade of 0.41 cpt and a good population of white-colorless diamonds is evidence that Chidliak is an excellent diamond project with superb exploration and development potential. In 2009, Peregrine discovered 13 kimberlites in just over eight weeks of drilling and prospecting which equates to one new kimberlite discovery every five days, Friedland said. “We have numerous excellent targets to drill, starting in April 2010, many of which are associated with kimberlite float and kimberlite indicator minerals, and we plan to collect mini-bulk samples from the CH-6 and CH-7 kimberlites this summer. We are confident that additional diamondiferous kimberlites will be discovered this year, and we look forward to reporting results as the year progresses,” he added.

GOLD – Comaplex Minerals Corp. Jan. 22 said Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd., a significant shareholder of Comaplex, has requested a hearing and review by the Ontario Securities Commission of the decision of the Toronto Stock Exchange whereby the TSX approved the issuance of an aggregate of 12.75 million Comaplex common shares to Perfora Investments S.a.r.l. as consideration for all of the issued and outstanding shares of Meliadine Resources Ltd. The transaction resulted in Perfora being issued about 17.9 percent of the outstanding shares of Comaplex in exchange for its 22 percent interest in the Meliadine West and 50 percent interest in the Meliadine East property owned by MRL. MRL subsequently was amalgamated into Comaplex. Comaplex now owns 100 percent of both properties. Agnico asked the OSC to set aside the TSX Decision; require Comaplex to call and hold a meeting of its shareholders in order to obtain the approval of the independent shareholders (shareholders other than Perfora and its affiliates and Comaplex’s directors and officers and their respective related parties and joint actors) of the Perfora deal; and dissolve the transaction if a simple majority of the independent shareholders vote against it. The transaction closed in December. Comaplex said it will oppose Agnico-Eagle’s request and believes it “is completely without merit.”

IRON – Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. Jan. 27 said recent sinter test results were “outstanding.” The results are laboratory-based test work on sampled material from the company's fine iron ore trial cargo shipped to ThyssenKrupp Steel in October 2008. Studien Gesellschaft fur Eisenerz-Aufbereitung conducted a series of laboratory-based pot grate sintering tests to evaluate the productivity of increasing amounts of Mary River sinter fines in a standard sinter mix used in European blast furnace operations. The mixture is very similar to the sinter mixture used in a TKS sinter plant trial. Baffinland said the results were exceptional with productivity consistently increasing the more Mary River fine iron ore was added to the mixture. The productivity increase with 10 percent Mary River fine iron ore in the sinter mixture was almost 5 percent; similar to the result achieved by TKS in its consumption of the fine iron ore trial cargo. Productivity increased, with each addition of Mary River fine iron ore, to approximately 24 percent with 50 percent Mary River fines iron ore content in the sinter mixture. The exceptional characteristics of the Mary River fine iron ore were proven in the sinter test work at TKS and SGA. Importantly, the average grain size (HS-50) of the trial cargo was greater than 3 millimeters in size, and it is expected to be one of, if not, the coarsest fine iron ores available. The outstanding quality is demonstrated by a standalone test of 100 percent Mary River fine iron ore that saw a productivity increase of more than 39 percent, when compared to the reference mixture. In each test, the quality of the sinter produced remained high.

Separately, Baffinland reported results of 2009 core drilling, all on Deposit No. 1, totaling 2,316 meters in 13 holes. The majority of the holes were drilled in the southeast portion of the deposit to define hanging wall contacts. Three of the holes; MR1-09-177 (-35º), MR1-09-178 (-18º) and MR1-09-179 (-16º) were drilled to test the upper portion of the South Limb. These are the first holes to cut the upper portion of the South Limb as rugged topography had previously prevented this drilling. In total, these holes intersected about 396 meters averaging 67.9 percent iron. Importantly, much of this material was previously defined as inferred resources and thus was treated as waste in the definitive feasibility study, Baffinland said. The 2009 drill program intersected a cumulative 737 meters grading 65.6 percent iron. “Mineralization continues to impress and the intersections in the upper portion of the South Limb confirm what was obvious to anyone who looked at the South Limb, that there was a large amount of high-grade iron ore,” said Baffinland Executive Vice President Michael Zurowski.